Blink
by TStabler
Summary: Things change. People change. Life changes. And it all happens in the blink of an eye. EO AA CF Future M
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: A new one…perhaps…**

**DISCLAIMER: Dick Wolf owns SVU and all related characters. TStabler owns the following story.**

"Can I ask you something?" Alex questioned, a Bloody Mary in her hand. She stirred the drink with a celery stalk and tilted her head.

Olivia downed another shot of whiskey. "You just did," she said, her voice breathy.

"Funny," Alex quipped. "Seriously. I've been meaning to ask you for a long time, I just...didn't know how."

Olivia nodded as she signaled the waiter for another shot. "Go ahead," she sighed.

"When you and Kathy were in that crash…" Alex took a breath and tried to form the question on her tongue. "Why did you…you went through a lot of trouble to…"

"Are you honestly asking me why I saved her life?" Olivia fumed. "She's my partner's wife!"

"She was until today," Alex told her. "And yes." She took a sip of her drink, then eyed Olivia. "You know it would have been a lot easier for you if…"

Olivia snapped, then. "Alex!" she yelled. "She was Elliot's wife! Carrying his child! He's my best friend! Of course I was going to do everything I could to save her!

Alex grinned. "You saved her life because you love him. You did it for him, not her. Am I right?"

Olivia froze, then cleared her throat. "I don't know why you think…"

"You're in love with him, Olivia," Alex interrupted. "Aren't you?" She took another long sip of her drink and scoffed. "Of course. You are, you always have been, and I just think…maybe if she didn't exactly pull through…"

"You think her death would have meant my chance to be with him?" Olivia narrowed her eyes and snorted.

Alex stared at Olivia for a long moment. "Something like that."

Olivia paled. "He would have been devastated! The last thing he would have done is hop into bed with me, Alex!" she said. She nodded as the waiter put two full shot glasses down in front of her. She lifted one to her lips and swallowed hard. "It's bad enough I have to stay away from him now. If he had to deal with her death back then…knowing I was there and could have stopped it…he would have hated me…I couldn't handle…"

"Why do you have to stay away from him?" Alex butted in, chomping down on the celery from her drink. "You don't think he needs you now, more than he ever has?"

Olivia closed her eyes and sighed. "His wife just left him, Alex. He's trying to make sense of things, deal with it, and he doesn't need me there forcing him to talk about it."

"You already tried to talk to him about it, didn't you?" Alex asked, her face coming to a firm point as her lips pursed.

Nodding, Olivia choked back her last shot. She made a face and shook her head as she swallowed. "Shit, that one was strong," she mumbled, then she looked up at Alex. "He's hurting, Al. It's bad, I mean...I just…I asked him if he needed anything and he told me…he yelled at me. He said to stay out of it, that it was none of my business, and then he left. Walked away."

Alex reached across the table for her friend's hand, and flinched in hurt when Olivia pulled away. "He just left you to handle the case by yourself?"

Olivia bit her lip and shoved her hands in her pockets. "Yeah," she whispered. "He…he blames me for this. He does, I know it. I'm an idiot, Al. If I would have stayed out of it the first time, let Kathy walk away five years ago, he wouldn't have to…"

"Get up," Alex spat. "Come on, get up. We're leaving."

Olivia's eyes widened. "What? Can I get a cup of coffee first? I don't think I'm in any…I can't drive, Alex," she grumbled as she rubbed her eyes. "There's two of you."

"I'm driving," the blonde hissed, pulling Olivia up by the arm. "Your car will be fine here for a few hours. He can drive you back for it in the…"

"He?" Olivia shook her head. "Oh, no, Alex. No way. He doesn't want me there, he told me…"

"He said things he didn't mean," Alex noted, dragging Olivia across the bar floor to the door. "You both did. Now, let's go."

Olivia yanked her arm away from Alex. "He meant it!" she yelled. "God, why can't you leave this alone?"

"You're miserable without him," Alex said softly. "And I'm miserable when you're miserable."

Rolling her eyes, Olivia said, "I'm not miserable without…"

"He was gone for months dealing with what happened last year, Olivia," Alex barked. "You were self-destructive the whole time. You were worrying about him every minute, wondering if he was okay, and you were fucking miserable. Don't tell me you weren't." She brushed her blonde hair back. "He's home, he's with you again at work, back in your life, and you're smiling again. You're just getting around to being yourself again, because he's back, and now this happened, and… I'm not letting him push you away again because you lose yourself without him, and I can't lose you again."

"Alex?" Olivia's face screwed up in confusion. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Alex shook her head, grabbed Olivia's wrist, and pulled her through the bar's front doors.

* * *

She turned at the sound of the front door creaking behind her. She looked up at him, held his gaze for a moment, then turned back to face the street. "I'll leave when I can remember which way I have to go," she said to him. "And...what street I live on."

"Liv," Elliot said softly, closing the door and sitting beside her, "What are you doing here?"

"I don't really remember," she said, blinking.

He squinted. "How long have you been out here?"

She looked down at her watch, narrowed her eyes, then said, "Half an hour. Or three days. I'm not exactly…sure…"

"Why didn't you come in?" he asked, resting his elbows on his knees. "You have a key. Alex called and told me you were…"

Olivia snorted. "Alex. Good old Alex. She needs to learn to keep her ten thousand dollar nose out of things that don't concern her," she complained.

"Are you…on honey, you're shitfaced," he said, trying to hide the chuckle.

She nodded and flattened her smile. She shrugged and said, "Alex took me to O'Malley's after work, and I guess…well you know what they say about whiskey sours. You can't have just one."

"That's potato chips." He brushed her hair back and pulled her a bit closer. "Why did she bring you here?"

She shivered and pulled away from him, feeling herself start to react to his touch and the fact he had called her "honey." She cleared her throat and said, "She thought I needed to talk to you, and I guess she thinks if I'm drunk enough I'll be totally honest with you. I told her you hated me and it was stupid, but…"

"Hate you?" he snapped. "Liv, why would…oh. Oh, my God, Liv." He wrapped his hand around hers. "Before…I'm sorry, I…when you asked I…I just got off the phone Kathy. She's keeping the kids with her, at her mother's, until this is all finalized. I had plans with them this weekend, and I was pissed off and I…" he stopped, he closed his eyes. "I don't hate you. I could never hate you."

She sniffled, her bottom lip shook, and she began to bounce slightly on the stoop. "This is my fault, El," she whispered. "All of it. She's gone because of me, isn't she?"

"Kathy left me, Liv, how is that your fault?" He moved closer to her, pulling her to him again, and this time she didn't pull away.

She couldn't answer him, she just held on as she began to cry, her head buried in his chest. She curled her fingers around his shirt and twisted, unable to control how badly she needed him.

"Liv, come on, tell me the truth. What's…" but he didn't get to finish his question.

The blast pushed them off of the stoop, sending them both flying across the street. The flames engulfed the door, the awning, the rails, and they were reaching out of the front windows. The smoke filled the air and filtered up to the purpling night sky.

He groaned as he rolled over, coughing and trying to lift himself up. "Liv…" he whispered, a moan, blinking his eyes open. He turned his head slowly, letting out another cough, and saw her lying next to him, her hands still twisted in the side of his shirt. "Liv?"

She wheezed as she tried to sit up, shuffling the brick and mortar around as she moved. "I'm okay," she said with a nod, looking up at him.

He brushed the dust and dirt off of her shoulders and arms, his fingers shaking as he grew closer to her chest, her stomach. "Oh, my God," he breathed.

Her hands unfurled and grazed over his chest, her eyes wandered over him in a fast panic. "Oh, my God," she gasped, repeating him, looking for any sign of injury.

"I'm fine," he told her, pulling her into his arms. "I'm fine." His chest pressed against hers, he felt both of their hearts pounding hard and fast. He held her for a moment, relieved, then pushed her away. He cupped her face and looked into her eyes. "Are you sure you're…"

She nodded. "I'm okay. I'm sure it'll hurt in the morning, but…"

He cut her off, his lips on hers. His hands wound in her hair, he dragged them through her locks, he moaned softly every time his mouth moved against hers. He drank her in, consumed her, possessed her. He wanted everything from her, he took it, and then released her.

She searched his eyes, confused and shocked, but she said nothing. She simply nodded again, then turned her head to look at the burning house across the street. "El?"

He pressed her head down against his chest and held her tight. His eyes closed as he tried to breathe. The sirens blaring in the distance weren't a comfort to him, but her being in his arms was. "I don't know, Liv," he said, an answer to the question she had tried to ask. He kept her tight against his heaving chest, knowing that life had changed in every possible way in one night.

In the blink of an eye.

**A/N: Hmmm?**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Everything changes**

**DISCLAIMER: Dick Wolf owns SVU and its characters. TStabler© owns the narrative, dialogue and plot of this story.**

"I'm fine," Olivia said, swatting the EMT's hand away from her forehead.

"You're bleeding, Detective," the young technician told her, trying to cover the small cut above her eye with a bandage.

She glared at him. "I'm fine," she almost snarled, pushing him back and sliding off the edge of the truck. She ignored his calls and headed straight for Elliot, whose arms were folded as he stared at the smoking pile of wood and brick that was one his home.

He didn't even turn to look at her, he knew she was there, and he pulled her into him. He kissed her forehead and closed his eyes. "You okay?"

"A few cuts and bruises," she said, shaking in his arms, but not because she was still afraid of the explosion. "They tell you anything?"

He sighed and pulled away from her, looked into her eyes, and nodded. "Bomb," he said flatly. "In the security system. That's why the door was the first thing to blow." He took both of her hands in his, his thumbs grazing the sides of hers. "Liv, what happened over there...when I kissed you...it wasn't just because..."

"I know, El," she whispered. She swallowed hard, cleared her throat, and stared at their connected hands for a moment before looking up at him. She raised an eyebrow. "Who would have the chance to..."

But she was interrupted. An older man ran toward them, arms flailing. "You!" he yelled. "Are you two all right?"

Olivia tried to pull her hands out of Elliot's but he was holding on tightly. "Fine," she said, her eyes widening.

Elliot pulled her closer to him, unconcerned with what the man would think. "We're okay, Cap."

Cragen squinted, wrapped one hand under Olivia's chin, and turned her head from side to side. "Your eyes," he said. "You could have a concussion. Go get checked out again, and if you need..."

"Cap!" she snapped, pushing his hand off of her. "I've been shot before! Stabbed! And this is hardly my first explosion, ya know. This is nothing. I'm fine."

Cragen pouted at her, then looked at Elliot. "I'm not gonna ask what she was doing at your place at close to two in the morning, but I'm glad you were outside. If you'd been in there..."

"I know, Cap." Elliot nodded and his grip on Olivia tightened. "Trust me, I know."

"So besides you," Cragen said, looking over his shoulder at the working firefighters, "Who had access to that system?"

Elliot coughed and let go of one of Olivia's hands to rub a sore spot on his chest. "The security guy," he shrugged. "And the kids, Kathy, but I doubt any of them know the first thing about bombs." He narrowed his eyes and coughed again. "Maybe someone got in...I have a lot of enemies, Cap." He lifted Olivia's hand to his lips and kissed one of her knuckles. "We both do."

"This didn't have anything to do with Olivia," Cragen said, shaking his head. "Not unless whoever did this knew she'd be with you tonight."

"Hell," Elliot scoffed, "I didn't even know she'd be with me tonight."

Cragen nodded once. "Exactly." He folded his arms and said, "Who would want you dead, Stabler?"

Elliot tilted his head, bit his lip, and said, "If you want a list, I'm gonna need a lot of paper."

* * *

"Thanks for letting me stay here, Liv," Elliot said, pulling off his shoes and tossing them into a corner. He pulled his badge out of his pocket, stared at it for a moment, and laughed. "I think you're rubbing off on me."

She furrowed her brow at him. "How do you mean?"

He put his badge down on her coffee table, then pulled his gun and holster off. "You don't go anywhere without your badge and gun. Not even to bed." He shrugged at her. "They were the first things I grabbed when I headed out to get you."

She smiled at him. "Good," she said. "Now you don't have to fill out forms or pay for replacements." Her smile faded as she looked at him. "You just have to...pay for new clothes, a new house...God, El, did this really just happen?"

He took a deep breath as he nodded. "Yeah," he said. "But I wasn't in the house, thanks to you, and everything that really mattered to me was with me when it happened." He brushed her hair back. "Including you."

She saw the way he was looking at her, the way he couldn't stop grinning when he looked into her eyes. "This...this is..."

"Fast," he said, nodding. "Unexpected, though? Not really." He walked away from her and sat on the couch. "Liv, I think you and I have always known...always wanted this." He closed his eyes and leaned his head back. "I just didn't think it would be right on the heels of my house blowing up."

Olivia shook her head. "Kathy's only been gone for..."

"What did you mean," he interrupted, his eyes not opening, his head not moving. "When you said this was your fault, what did you mean?"

Olivia moved slowly toward him, sat next to him, and waited for some kind of signal from him to start talking. Getting nothing but his hand on her knee, she said, "I didn't stop her this time."

"No one asked you to do it the first time," he mumbled. "If I remember it right, Kathy asked you to convince me to sign the papers, not convince me to stay."

"El, what was I supposed to do, huh?" she said, anger building. "I wasn't gonna be a part of my best friend's life falling apart, I'm sorry. I thought...I thought you were happy. I thought you loved her."

One of his eyes popped open and he looked at her sideways. "I was," he said. "I did. In the beginning. But the last few years...come on, even you saw it. We weren't happy."

"Kathy came to talk to me," she said, biting her lip. "She wanted me to talk to you, again, but this time she...wanted me to convince you to leave the unit."

"What?" His head snapped up and both eyes were opened now.

She took a breath and shifted in her seat. "She said as long as you worked there...as long as you worked with me...she'd never really have you to herself." She closed her eyes and said, "I told her I couldn't do it. I couldn't tell you to leave."

"Damn straight, you couldn't," he said, his hand running the length of her arm.

Olivia opened her eyes and looked at him. "I couldn't...I was being so...so selfish. I can't imagine being without you, El, not again. It's happened too often and I just..."

"I'm not going anywhere," he whispered, interrupting. "I promise. Never again."

Olivia nodded, rested her head on his shoulder, and said, "Kathy...she got upset when I told her I couldn't do it. And then she asked me...she asked me if I was sleeping with you." She pressed her lips together. "Your family has a habit of asking me that."

He laughed and sat up, wrapped his arms around her, and said, "Because they see what we've been trying like hell to ignore." He kissed her forehead. "I don't know about you, but something about getting blown up tonight has made me really...really tired."

She rolled her eyes and laughed. "Yeah." She pushed herself off of him, looked awkwardly around her place, and said, "It's not exactly big enough for two people. Is it?"

Elliot winked. "I don't plan on being far enough away from you to realize that." He kissed the end of her nose and got off of the couch. "Bed?" he questioned.

"We've shared a bed before," she told him, rising. "I'm just gonna jump in the shower. I feel like..."

"Like you've been blown up?" he chuckled. "I'll wait for you then, if you..."

She held up a hand. "Go to bed, El, it's okay." She froze when she caught his eyes with hers. Part of her desperately wanted to kiss him and part of her wanted so badly to run away.

He made the choice for her. He pressed his lips to hers, softly, gently, and said, "Goodnight, Liv." Then he sighed. "Thanks for saving my life tonight."

She smiled at him, then made her way into the bathroom. Once the door was closed behind her, she collapsed into a ball on the floor and the reality of the night hit her hard. She tried to calm down enough to stand, but her shaking legs wouldn't cooperate.

The loud explosion from the street below. though. was enough to make her straighten up. She ran to the window and peered out, the sounds of car alarms and barking dogs hitting her ears as soon as the glass was lifted. "Oh, my God," she gasped.

The door behind her flew open and Elliot ran to her, pulling her into his arms for what seemed like the hundredth time that night.

She turned away from the fiery sight, letting herself envelope him. "Your car," she mumbled into his bare chest.

He nodded, his chest heaving with every hard breath. "Yeah," he panted.

"Someone really wants you dead," she said with a sniffle, meeting his eyes.

He licked his lips, then kissed her hard, ignoring the truth in her words and focusing on the fact that he was alive, he was with her, and he was going to find out who was after him. He just couldn't let his guard down.

**A/N: Well...then...next? A day at the precinct, a case distracts Olivia and Elliot, and another couple is exposed. **


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Sometimes the answers raise more questions**

**DISCLAIMER: Dick Wolf owns SVU and its characters. TStabler© owns the narrative, dialogue and plot of this story.**

"Oh, my God," Alex cried, getting out of her car. She ran toward Olivia fast and ripped her out of Elliot's arms, into hers.

"I'm fine," Olivia mumbled, rolling her eyes. Then, though, she narrowed them. "What's she doing here?"

Alex let Olivia go, pushed back a bit, and turned to find where the brunette's gaze had landed. "Oh," she said, "Um, well..."

"This isn't an SVU case, Rollins," Elliot butted in, casually pulling Olivia back toward him.

Amanda Rollins shoved her hands in her pockets, used to the indifference the veteran detective had been showing her since his return. "I'm just here with her," she said, jutting her chin toward Alex. "I was with her when she heard about this, she wanted to come, so..."

"Yeah," Alex interrupted, biting her lip. "Yeah, I...I wanted to...shit, I should have never brought you here, Olivia!"

Olivia's grip on Elliot's tee shirt tightened. "If you hadn't, Alex, he would have been in the house when..." she squinted, she turned her head into his chest, unable to process the rest of the thought.

Alex huffed. "You would have been far away from it, though," she gritted out.

Olivia lifted her head then, and her eyes traveled between the two blondes. Something in their eyes, the way they looked at each other, made her realize something. She raised an eyebrow. "You were with Alex at four in the morning?"

"Trial prep," Alex and Rollins answered together, almost too quickly.

"Okay," Olivia returned, giving Elliot a knowing look. "Anyway, Al, we're both fine. We weren't in the car, or anywhere near it, you can go..."

"Why the hell is someone trying to blow your ass up, Stabler?" Alex yelled, ignoring Olivia. "Why the fuck did you even let her near you if you knew..."

Elliot scoffed and yelled back, "Oh, because I just knew someone was gonna blow up my house and my car tonight, Cabot! I really didn't wanna be alone for it so I dragged Liv down with me! That's right!"

"Both of you!" Olivia cut in, stepping between them, looking at Elliot as his nostrils flared, "Calm down!"

"Relax," Rollins said softly, her hand coming down on Alex's shoulder.

Olivia watched, unsurprised, as Alex's hand cupped over Amanda's, and the lawyer visibly relaxed. She dropped her head back to Elliot's chest, wondering if her world wasn't the only one that had been turned upside down tonight.

Alex shook her head and sniffled, trying not to cry. "I never would have brought you here if...if I had known that..."

"Hey," Elliot barked, cutting her off again, "She's safe! I'm never gonna let anything happen to her."

Tension flitted between the group, awkward silence dropped like a heavy cloud over their heads. When a throat cleared behind them, and a low voice got their attention, they all seemed to breathe again.

"Stabler," Ed Tucker began, an unlit cigarette hanging out of his mouth, "Bomb was rigged to go off at ten. Whoever did this connected the explosive to your car's clock."

Elliot chuckled. "That hasn't worked in years."

"Thank God," Olivia said to him. "Ten o'clock, you would have been in the car, on your way home from work. You would have..."

"Don't," he said, pressing one finger over her lips and shaking his head. "Just don't, okay?" He closed his eyes and kissed her forehead. "I'm all right."

Tucker rolled his eyes at the, and dropped his arms to his sides in frustration. "Can we please..."

"Sorry," Elliot jabbed. "Go on."

"What kind of insurance do you have?" Tucker asked, taking a small notebook out of his pocket.

"On the car?" Elliot asked. "Uh, collision...liability...I doubt it covers random explos..."

Tucker held up a hand. "Life insurance," he interrupted. "And I need to know who your beneficiaries are. Who you may have named in your will, what someone might gain from having you dead, Elliot."

Elliot furrowed his brow and looked down at Olivia for a moment, then turned back up to Tucker. "Just the policy through work," he shrugged. "Same people on that as in my will. Kathy...I'm changing that, though. Ya know, it's the kids, a little something for..." he paused. "Why?"

Alex folds her arms. "You think someone's trying to kill him for the money?" She chuckled once. "No offense, but he isn't Donald Trump. What would they get? Five hundred bucks and what's left of that Buick?"

"It was a Ford," Elliot corrected, "And it was brand new." He ran a hand down his face. "I just paid that fucker off."

Tucker cleared his throat again. "Well, uh, this is...this is serious, Stabler. Personal vendettas aside, I'm not gonna let this asshole, whoever it is, take you out of the game. I got a guy at a rental place, he's expecting you. Until your insurance decides what to do, you have your pick of any car on the lot."

Elliot raised one eyebrow at Tucker. "Were you...you weren't in the car when it blew up, were you? Did my fender hit you in the head?"

Tucker laughed. "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, Elliot," he said. "Stay with Benson, we got two cars out here,. watching..."

"Whoa, protective detail?" Olivia questioned.

Tucker shoved his notebook back into his pocket. "Listen, I'm doing my job," he said. "I'm...following orders..."

"And if I get killed on your watch it's your ass in the sling," Elliot added. "But thanks. For whatever that's worth."

Tucker nodded, turned, and walked away, finally lighting his cigarette.

Rollins looked at Olivia, then at Elliot. "I'm glad you're both okay, really. I...um...I guess I'll see you at work in a few hours. You should...try to get some..."

"Sleep?" Olivia snorted. "Not happening."

Elliot nodded as the pair of blondes walked away, then turned Olivia around in his arms. He took a shaky breath before he kissed her again, brushed her hair back, and wrapped himself around her. Over her shoulder, he watched people in uniforms cart away bits and pieces of his car, and names of people who'd become his enemies scrolled through his mind.

* * *

"You okay?" Fin asked, watching Elliot down another cup of coffee.

Elliot nodded as he shook the sleep out of himself. "Yeah," he answered, rolling and cracking his neck. "Almost getting blown to Kingdom Come twice in one night is really energizing, Fin, I'm great."

Fin chuckled. "I meant, can you work this case?" He licked his lips and leaned closer to him. "In case you forgot, there's two newbies here who could take a lot of the weight off of..."

"I got it," Elliot snapped, glaring now.

"Easy," Fin said with narrow eyes, backing away. "You really don't..."

Elliot tilted his head. "I don't, no." He folded his arms. "It took three months to get Cragen to file my request to transfer back in because he didn't want to be overstaffed, so forgive me for not being fast friends with the reasons why."

"They're good people," Fin said. "Just don't write 'em off so fast."

"How long did it take me to warn up to you?" Elliot asked, raising an eyebrow.

Fin thought, then he smirked. "Yeah, you got a point. You took to Liv real fast, though, I bet, huh?" He turned his head and saw Olivia with Munch, talking to a witness at a small table in the back. He hummed and asked, "So what's up with you and Benson, anyway?"

Elliot couldn't help smiling. "I have been asking myself that question all day, man, and...I don't know. But I like it." He sighed as he, too, watched Olivia work, but his attention was pulled back to the front entrance when he heard Tucker's droning voice.

"Stabler," Tucker said, pointing. "You, Benson, office, now."

Elliot screwed up his face as he stood. "Me, Tarzan, you, Jane, oo-gah!"

Tucker rolled his eyes. "Knock it off! I'm not laughing. This is serious."

Olivia excused herself, leaving Munch with the witness, and sped over to Tucker and Elliot as they headed into Cragen's office. "Did you find out who..."

"No," Tucker interrupted. He gestured to the chairs in the office and waited until they sat. "You put her on your insurance policy, why?"

Olivia's eyes popped open. "Excuse me?"

Tucker held up both hands. "You're not a suspect, keep your panties on."

"She's not wearing any," Elliot mumbled with a smirk.

"And keep that shit out of work!" Tucker ordered, pointing at him. "I'm asking one more time. Why is she a beneficiary on your insurance?"

Elliot took a breath. "She's family," he said simply. "I'm all she's got, and she's...pretty much all I've got, too. I wanted to make sure someone took care of her in case...if I couldn't anymore...and I figured, why not do it myself either way?"

"What does this have to do with anything, Tucker?" Olivia asked, irritated and nervous.

Elliot rested his hand over her knee and the shaking stopped, but he knew he'd have a lot of explaining to do later.

Tucker crossed his arms. "It matters, because if anyone else found out about that...and wanted to not only get you out of the way but get her that money..."

"That's insane." Olivia broke in. "No one...no one would kill anyone for me, except Elliot, and he sure as hell wouldn't kill himself for me, that would really defeat the purp..."

"I'm just covering all of our bases, Benson," Tucker interrupted. "We've got another person of interest upstairs, I just wanted to get...if you can think of anyone who might..."

"Person of interest?" Elliot said. "Who?"

Tucker heaved another heavy sigh and dropped his arms. "Kathy."

**A/N: Kathy wouldn't hurt anyone. Especially Elliot. But...she knows who would.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Even when you're sleeping, keep your eyes open.**

**DISCLAIMER: Dick Wolf owns SVU and all related characters. TStabler owns the following story.**

Ed Tucker shook his head as he lifted a glass of whiskey to his lips. "That woman…she was…wow," he scoffed, then downed the shot.

Elliot laughed as he nodded. "Now you know why I got divorced," he shrugged, sipping his beer.

Tucker smirked. "You got divorced so you could bang Benson and not feel a shred of guilt about it," he teased, pouring himself another glass, licking his lips as the amber liquid rose to the brim.

Elliot sighed. "No," he said sternly. "I…I wouldn't have felt guilty. Not like that. I…I just…" he sipped his beer again and he cleared his throat. "It wouldn't have been fair to her. To be with her, to love her, then go…home…to someone else. I needed her to know, when I made a move, that there wouldn't be anyone else. My only home…would be with her."

Ed narrowed his eyes. "You sound like you blew up your own house to move into…"

"Ed," Elliot snapped, cutting him off. "Come on, man, I'm trying to talk to you here."

"Sorry," Tucker said, slamming down the now-empty shot glass. "So before things…blew up in your face…literally…you were planning on…"

"I thought about it," Elliot said, interrupting yet again. "I just…I didn't think it would happen so soon. Like this. I thought…I don't know…I wanted it to be more than a 'holy fuck my house just blew up, thank God you're alive,' kinda thing."

"Is that all it is?" Ed asked, tilting his head.

Elliot smirked. "No," he said, bringing the brown beer bottle to his lips again. "No, it's…more than that." He took a swig, swallowed, and sighed. "So Kathy gave you nothing?"

Ed turned the bottle of whiskey over above his glass, watching as the last drops fell into it. "She gave me a few names, we're looking into it. I didn't think tonight was about the case?"

"You spent two hours interrogating my ex-wife," Elliot chuckled, "Then you asked me to meet you here for a drink. What else could this be…"

"Who knew?" Tucker asked, breaking in this time.

Elliot screwed up his face. "Who knew what?"

"Who knew, besides your wife, that you mortgaged the house to bail Benson out of jail?" Tucker raised both eyes waiting for Elliot's answer.

Elliot paled. His eyes narrowed. "Kathy doesn't even know about that. The only person who knows I did that is Olivia." He licked his lips. "How did you…"

"Didn't take a genius," Ed said snidely. "She posts bail the same time your bank statement turns up with a second lean?"

Elliot rolled his eyes. "You actually pulled my files to find out where she got the money?"

"I pulled everyone's," Tucker admitted. "Every person in that unit, but when I saw your name on her bond log, well…I just had to know…where it came put yourself deeper into debt, risked losing the house without telling your wife...that's love." He downed the final shot of whiskey and shook off the burn. "But Kathy knew. She told me you were probably pissed that you still owe a half mil on a pile of rubble."

Elliot laughed, but he quickly stopped. "How did she find out?" he asked himself. Then he looked up. "What names did she give you?"

Ed slid his empty glass and a crinkled fifty dollar bill toward Elliot. "I can't tell you that, Elliot. I just…I wanted to meet with you tonight to say…I finally understand why you were always so angry." He stood up and slapped Elliot on the shoulder. "You really are a God-fearing man, Stabler."

Laughing once more, Elliot said, "I had a lot of help from an angel, Ed." He nodded as Tucker walked away from him and he tossed an extra twenty bucks on the table, rushing out behind Ed to go home. To his angel.

* * *

She rolled over onto her side, feeling strong arms wrap around her, and blinked her eyes open. "Hey," she whispered, her face frozen in stunned surprise.

He grinned at her and brushed her nose with his. "Hey," he replied, giving her a soft kiss on the lips. "I didn't mean to wake you."

"I wasn't asleep," she said, finding herself snuggling closer to him.

He dropped his head to hers, pulled her tighter against him, and whispered, "This is nice."

She hummed in response, all she could do as she began to drift off in his arms. She looped one of her legs around him, nuzzled into the crook of his neck, and sighed. She mumbled something unintelligible as she buried herself in him.

He chuckled and kissed the crown of her head, closing his eyes, his splayed palms slipping down her back.

She groaned and rocked into him, her body tightening. She mumbled again, something between a protest and a plea.

He kissed her forehead, then her nose, then her lips as he gripped the curves of her hips. His eyes still closed, he deepened the kiss as his fingers danced toward her ass, then cupped it firmly.

She moaned into his mouth, intoxicated by the kiss, not just because he'd been drinking, but because he had that sort of power over her. Her fingers curled, gouging into his back, clawing down his spine and up over his shoulders. She felt more than heard the growl he let loose, and it made her entire body quake.

"Liv," he murmured against her lips. He peeled away from her for just a few seconds and he opened his eyes as he breathed, "Liv, baby, tell me to stop."

She smiled and shook her head fast, then pulled him back toward her. She pressed her lips to his, slid her tongue along the seam of his mouth, and fought with him for control, a battle that she knew wouldn't have a winner. Or a loser.

He dragged his fingers along the curve of her thigh, sliding his fingers in between her legs, rubbing just a bit. He moaned, the heat radiating from her hitting him. He felt her shudder, felt her nails dig deeper into his skin, and he caught her moan in his mouth. He nipped at her lips as she slid her knee against his growing hardness.

"El," she moaned, rubbing against him, "El, maybe we should…"

A knock on her door made the rest of her sentence obsolete. He cursed as he pulled away from her, and he moved as he tried to catch his breath. He rolled off of the bed, held up a finger, then kissed her lips quickly. "Don't go anywhere."

She rolled her eyes and crawled out of the bed. "It's my apartment," she argued.

He cocked an eyebrow at her, then grinned, and the race was on. They pushed each other, shoved each other, held and pulled each other back, laughing the whole time. Two hands reached for the door knob, and a slight struggle to turn it ensued.

Elliot grunted as his free hand reached for her, his fingertips wiggling fast.

"Not fair!" Olivia squealed, leaping backward, away from his tickling hand. She folded her arms and huffed as she watched Elliot open the door with a victorious smirk on his face.

"Am I interrupting something?" Cragen asked, his arms folded, as he stared at Elliot. He watched the younger man's smirk fall into a serious expression. "Well?"

"No, Cap." Elliot cleared his throat and stepped aside. "What are you…"

"I called," Cragen said. "Both of you. Three times. Each."

Olivia ran a hand through her hair. "I guess we were sleeping too…"

"Together?" Cragen asked.

Elliot folded his arms. "She only has one bed," he said. He saw the glare in Cragen's eyes. "I was on the couch."

Cragen shot them each a disbelieving look, then said, "Pack a bag. Get in the car. Now."

"Excuse me?" Olivia protested. "I'm not going…"

"It wasn't a suggestion, Benson!" Cragen yelled. He pulled three Polaroid pictures out of his pocket and handed them to her. "Whoever is after Elliot knows he's here. We're moving you two to a safe house before the bastard can make a real move. This is not up for discussion. Go pack. Now."

Olivia flipped the photos over one by one, then turned white as she tossed them onto her coffee table and ran into her bedroom.

Elliot stepped forward and picked up the pictures. "How did…" he squinted as he stared down at pictures of him and Olivia, taken through her living room window. He smiled, noticing they looked happy. In love. "When did you…"

"They were on my desk when I got back from MTAC," Cragen broke in. "I assume they're a message. Or a warning." He wiped his palms on his pants and headed back toward the door. "I don't wanna know what's going on with the two of you, but I'll be damned if I let it get in the way of finding out who's out to skin your hide."

Elliot looked at his captain with wide eyes. "It's not affecting the…"

"I meant," Cragen said, stopping him again, "That you will stay together, at the house, until we have a solid lead. You will be picked up, brought to work, driven home. Two cars, four cops, will be outside at all times. You don't go anywhere, do anything, talk to anyone without my approval. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yeah," Elliot scoffed. "Sure thing, Dad."

"Cut the sarcasm," Cragen snapped in a harsh whisper. "I'm not gonna let you two get blown to bits because some ex-con went apeshit. And yeah, maybe I am acting like an overprotective father, but if either of you had one…"

"Hey!" Elliot roared, scaring the aging man. "I had a father! He may have been a monster at times, but he was there when I needed him, and he made me…"

"He made you angry, Elliot!" Cragen yelled back. "Look where it's gotten you? Your life is in danger because you pissed off the wrong perp, and now Olivia's…"

"Are you two done?" Olivia interjected. She stood, staring, a duffle bag slung over her shoulder. "This isn't his fault, Cap. You know that."

Cragen closed his eyes and took a breath. "I'm just…"

"Scared?" Olivia questioned. "Like we're not?"

Elliot heaved another heavy sigh as he padded over to the corner to get the one bag of his stuff that survived and made the journey to Olivia's with him. "So," he said, coughing. "Where are we going?"

"Townhouse on Madison," Cragen said. "Rollins and Amaro are staying with you tonight. Four uniforms are gonna be in cars, one out front and one out back."

Elliot walked over to Olivia, took both of her hands in his, and turned his eyes up at her. "I'm sorry I got you…"

She kissed him. Not caring that Cragen was there, she wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a full and deep kiss. "Don't," she whispered, pulling back. "I can live without privacy, I can live without my apartment, but…El, I can't…"

"I know," he said, giving her another quick peck. "I can't live without you, either." He winked at her, then pulled her along, following Cragen out of the apartment, looking over his shoulder with every step. He knew he wouldn't be sleeping well tonight. He had someone to watch over.

**A/N: A heart to heart with Rollins, and Kathy comes for a (helpful) visit.**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Whatever you do, don't blink. You'll miss it.**

**DISCLAIMER: SVU and related characters belong only to Dick Wolf. This story belongs to TStabler©**

"Damn, El," Olivia laughed, looking around the living room of the safe house. "You should get your place blown up more often," she teased, elbowing him.

"Yeah," he chuckled. "This place is...pretty swanky, huh?" He pulled her toward him and kissed her lightly.

Amanda Rollins, standing a few feet in front of them, rolled her eyes. "I need to use the john," she spat before heading toward the lavish bathroom.

"Classy," Elliot quipped after her. He shook his head and looked at Olivia. "Well, uh...I guess we should...make ourselves at home." He dropped his duffle bag to the floor near the coffee table and plopped on the couch.

Olivia set her bag down beside his, taking a deep breath, and she sighed as she settled next to him on the soft leather cushion. She leaned back, drumming her fingers along her knee, and she eyed him for a moment.

He glanced at her from the side. "What?"

She shook her head and looked away from him.

"Come on," he breathed, wrapping one arm around her. "What is it?"

She took another breath, but this time it was shaky, uneasy. She was trying not to cry as she spoke. "Part of me always knew we'd end up in this situation. Someone trying to kill us, but I thought...I thought I'd be ready. Instead, I'm..."

"Scared?" he whispered, then he gently kissed a patch of skin behind her ear. "Me, too, Liv."

She turned to him as chills ran down her spine, that kiss had sent shockwaves rippling through her, and she said, "Who the hell did you piss off, Stabler?"

"Me?" he scoffed. "Listen, baby, it could just as easily be that punk-ass you beat the shit out of in interrogation when you told off Cragen and..."

"Oh!" she interjected, feigning offense. "The one time I get a little angry made someone want your head on a spike? I don't think so."

"One time?" he laughed, staring at her. "Honey, you're catching up to me whether you know it or not."

She rolled her eyes. "Give me a break," she droned. "I could kick the entire NFL in the balls and I would still look tame compared to you."

"No, you..." he shook a finger at her. "Baby, you've got your own rage issues to..."

"How long have you two been married?" Rollins asked, her arms folded, from behind the couch.

Elliot and Olivia turned their heads at the same time, sheepishly waved at her, and fell back into awkward silence.

"Oh, I get it," Rollins said, making her way over to the sofa, sitting on a far end. "You can tell each other anything, but you clam up when I'm around."

"No, that's not..." Elliot paused. "We just...shit, this is awkward."

Rollins crossed her legs. She ran a hand through her long, straight, blonde hair. "I stepped up when you took off, Detective Stabler, and I backed away when you came back. I'm not gonna get in the way of the Dynamic Duo, so untwist your shorts, okay?"

Elliot furrowed his brow and turned to Olivia. "Untwist my...what?"

"She's Southern," Olivia shrugged.

Rollins rolled her eyes again. "It means you can relax. I'm not a threat. Not to your job, not to your relationship, or your partnership." She crossed her arms and said, "We're gonna be holed up here for a while, and I think...it would do us all a lot of good if we stopped acting like the Hatfields and McCoys and tried to maybe get along."

Elliot cleared his throat. "Right," he mumbled. He looked around, his eyes landed on the kitchen. "You hungry?" he asked, looking at Olivia. Then he turned to Rollins. "Either of you?"

"I could eat," Olivia said with a shrug.

Elliot kissed her softly, cupping the back of her neck lightly. Then he got up, moved toward the kitchen, and shot a smile over his shoulder at her.

"When did that happen?" Rollins asked, leaning toward Olivia, who was still staring off into the kitchen at Elliot.

Without turning her head, Olivia answered, "When did you start sleeping with Alex?"

Rollins froze. Her hands fell to her lap, and her mouth flattened into a half-grimace. "What?"

Olivia faced Rollins, her chin resting on her hand as her elbow propped on the arm of the couch. "It's a conversation, not an interrogation, right? I can ask you questions, too."

Rollins licked her lips and sighed. "I don't...I'm not..."

"She practically melted the minute you touched her," Olivia cut in. "Elliot...he does that for me. I know what it means. So how long?"

"Almost a month," Rollins admitted. "But please, Olivia, you can't tell...I don't think it's a good idea for people to know."

Olivia squinted as she straightened up. "She's not in the unit, ya know. It's not like...it's not as risky as what me and El are..." she stopped, her face fell in realization. "You think you're gonna get flack at work because you're a lesbian?"

Rollins widened her eyes and shot a look toward the kitchen. "Will you keep it down?" she hissed, snapping back toward Olivia. "I mean, really? Him, too. Can he not know about this?"

Tilting her head and giving Rollins a confused look, Olivia folded her arms. "One of his best friends is gay," she said with a shrug. "He's fine with..."

"I'm a cop!" Rollins interrupted harshly. "And a woman! You know the shit I've dealt with. I've had to fight stereotypes and criticism since my first class at the academy. Men telling me I can't do my job, calling me weak, the nasty looks. It would only make things worse if...I don't want this getting out, especially since everyone is so ripe to get rid of me now that King Elliot has returned to reclaim his throne."

"Hang on," Olivia nearly growled. "First of all, I didn't know it was a huge secret. I'm sorry you feel like you have to hide who are you, especially in this unit. But no one is trying to get rid of..."

"He is!" Rollins choked out, aiming an open palm at the kitchen. "His first day back, he didn't even ask what my name was, and he wrote me up!"

"You were searching a scene without gloves on," Olivia said calmly. "He didn't do it because he thought you were..."

"Please?" Rollins asked, almost begged. "Olivia, please, just don't say anything?"

Olivia nodded. "It' not my place to say, anyway," she said. "It's your personal life. You tell who you want, when you want." She reached over and laid a hand on Rollins' shoulder. "But trust me when I say, no one at work would treat you any differently if you told them."

Rollins gave Olivia a small smile, then looked down. She checked her watch, then looked toward the front door with a worried haze in her eyes. "Thanks," she mumbled, feeling Olivia's hand slip away from her.

"Soup's on!" Elliot intruded from the kitchen. "Literally. It's soup. All we have is canned soup."

Rollins stood up, then looked from him to Olivia. "Uh, ya know, I know you guys have had a rough couple of days."

"You can say that again," Elliot scoffed, making his way toward the table with two bowls full of hot soup.

"You're both exhausted, and I'm sure you'd really rather be alone right now," Rollins continued. "You don't want me hovering over you tonight. Why don't you take yours into the, uh, bedroom?" She smirked and wagged her eyebrows at Elliot.

Elliot chuckled. "Sounds good to me," he said, looking at Olivia and jerking his head toward the bedroom door.

Olivia shot Rollins a questioning glance, but rose from the couch and walked toward the table. She grabbed her bowl and a spoon, shook her head and sighed, then followed Elliot into the bedroom.

"That was nice of her," he said, kicking the door closed behind him. "Or she just really can't stand me," he added, resting his soup on an end table.

Olivia laughed as she dropped her bowl next to his. "She thinks you hate her," she said, making herself comfortable on the bed. She reached for her spoon and scooped up some soup, but stopped and looked at Elliot. "You don't hate her," she said, more of a question than anything.

"Of course not," he said, spooning soup into his mouth. He mumbled, "I don't know her enough to hate her."

She rolled her eyes as she finally slid the spoon between her lips and closed her eyes. "This is really good," she said after swallowing.

"You haven't eaten in two days," he told her, laying on his stomach beside her. He dragged the end table closer to them and said, "Raw chicken would be good to you, right now."

She laughed again and leaned over, resting her head on his shoulder. "This is...I know we're in a lot of danger here, but this is...really nice."

He kissed her forehead as he reached for her spoon. He fed her as he said, "It is. Kind of like a vacation. Ya know, one where we can't leave the hotel room."

She took the spoon out of his hand and put it back into her bowl, then cupped his face in her hands. "This is hardly a vacation," she said, "But...since we don't have to leave the room..." She raised an eyebrow at him and grinned when she saw his face light up.

With a soft growl, he closed the space between them, pressing his lips to hers. His hands wound around her neck and back and he rolled, pulling her on top of him as he did so.

She rocked into him, making them both moan a little louder, and she worked her hands under his shirt. Smoothing up and down his chest, she cooed into his mouth.

He nibbled at her lips, sliding one hand down to her ass, squeezing when it landed there. "Beautiful," he garbled as he fought with her for control of their kiss.

She stopped moving and pulled away, holding herself up above chest. "What did you say?" she asked softly, stunned, staring down at him.

He trailed the fingers of his right hand from her neck to her face and brushed her hair behind her ear. "I said," he panted, "You're beautiful. So fucking beautiful." He licked his lips and tried to slow his breathing. "I don't want you to think I'm...this is serious. For me. For...for us. I was gonna...before the explosion, I wanted to tell you...show you..."

She pressed one finger to his lips and smiled. "Stop," she whispered. "I know."

His lips curled beneath her finger, then pursed, and he kissed the pad of her fingertip. He stared up at her for a moment more, and just before he moved to kiss her again, a crash from the living room jolted them both.

"What the hell?" Elliot gasped.

"Rollins," Olivia said, leaping off of Elliot and rushing out of the room. "What happened? Are you...oh...my..."

"Jesus," Elliot said, shocked, behind her. His hands moved around her waist and he pulled her tight against him. "Are either of you hurt?"

Rollins, clad only in her bra and flesh-toned panties, was kneeling on the floor picking up bits of broken glass as Alex clutched a blanket to herself on the couch. "We're fine," Rollins said, sighing. "Just a little accident."

"The...uh...we were...she was, um...and then I kicked the..." Alex stumbled.

"What are you even doing here?" Elliot asked, slightly annoyed. Then he cringed and held up a hand. "Wait, I...I know...obviously I can see what you're doing here, but...no one's supposed to know where we are. You could have been followed, or..."

Alex shook her head. "I wasn't, I swear. I just...we had plans tonight and..."

"And you couldn't let a little thing like protective detail get in the way," Olivia said, absentmindedly linking her hands with Elliot's, which were resting on her hips.

"Don't start with me," Alex said, sitting up straighter. "You did the same damn thing! You went to see Elliot when he was undercover because you didn't..."

"And it almost got him killed!" Olivia shouted.

Elliot couldn't help smirking. "I would have died a happy man," he said, remembering the feel of her skin against his. "The way you looked in that bra..."

"Can we focus here?" Rollins yelled, standing and tossing the broken glass from the coffee table into a plastic trash bin. "I invited her here, I gave her the address, I wanted to be alone with my...girl...friend...so if that's a crime then..."

"What phone did you use?" Elliot asked, pushing Olivia aside and walking toward Rollins.

Rollins huffed. "I'm not an idiot, Stabler. I wrote the address down and handed it to her, she hasn't let it out of her sight,. Trust me, we had this all under..."

"When Amaro gets here, the both of you...leave." Elliot ran a hand through his hair. "Don't bother coming back tomorrow, I'll call Fin to..." he looked at Rollins, then, seeing a slight hurt in her eyes. He let out a hard puff of air and bit his lip. "Are you sure no one else knows? She wasn't followed?"

Rollins looked at Alex. "Tell him," she said.

"I parked four blocks away and came in through am underground delivery entrance and up the freight elevator," Alex said. "Olivia's my best friend. I would never so anything to put her in..."

"Okay then," Elliot said with a nod. Then his eyes widened and he looked toward the ceiling. "Alex, um...your blanket is...I...don't...there's really one set of those I wanna see, and it's...not yours."

"Oh, God," Alex said, turning red and pulling her blanket back up over her exposed chest.

Elliot shook his head, the he walked back toward Olivia and took her hand. He kissed her, then led her back into the bedroom, closing the door, hoping their secret really was still safe, and hoping he could keep one of his own.

**A/N: And then...?**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Blink away the tears and smile. **

**DISCLAIMER: SVU and related characters belong only to Dick Wolf. This story belongs to TStabler©**

Elliot shook his head as he poured himself a cup of coffee. "So," he began, noticeably not looking at Rollins, "What exactly did I walk in on last night?"

Rollins bit her lip and pulled down on her shirt sleeves. "You're a detective," she said, "But it doesn't take one to figure it out."

"So that was really...you and Cabot..." he blinked and smirked. "Suddenly, her dating Langan makes perfect sense."

"I would really appreciate it if you didn't mention it to anyone, okay?" she asked him, a nervous glaze in her eyes.

"Which part?" he asked, sipping his coffee. "The part where I saw you in your underwear, or the part when I saw Alex...not in her underwear." He shuddered a bit and took another sip from his mug.

Rollins took a breath and closed her eyes, dropping her voice as she spoke. "Please, Detective Stabler?" she almost begged. "No jokes, I'm embarrassed enough, just...do me this one favor and..."

"My lips are sealed," he interrupted. "Just...one question."

"Yeah?" she asked, looking up worriedly.

He put his mug down on the kitchen counter, kept his hands wrapped around it, and leaned over as he asked, "Are you out of your mind?"

Rollins straightened up. "Excuse me?"

"Do you have any idea what could have happened if..." he licked his lips, thinking about how to say what he needed to say. "Someone is trying to kill me, someone who would hurt Liv, too, if given the chance. If someone barged in here and you and Alex were...busy..." he paused and huffed. "You're supposed to be our protective detail. If you're gonna be distracted like that..."

"I can do my job, Stabler," she snapped. "But I had to see her. You...look at your partner, pal. Tell me you don't know how I feel! There is not a single second where I don't need her. My fingers burn when they're not touching her. My lungs burn when I'm not breathing her in. My mouth burns when I'm not..."

"Okay," he cut in, holding up a hand, not needing too strong a visual. "I know...that's...that's how I feel about Liv, but not during a case! Not on the job! And sure as fuck not when there are people in the next room!"

Rollins rolled her eyes. "Okay, so maybe it wasn't the right time or the right place, but I swear we were careful. No one followed her, no one outside the unit knows where you are, and no one will find out." She narrowed her eyes. "No one is gonna hurt a hair on your head, Stabler."

Elliot turned away from her with closed eyes. "It's not my head I'm worried about."

Rollins slumped over again and looked around the room. "Where is she, by the way?"

"Still asleep," he answered, a small smile crossing his face. "I didn't have the heart to wake her. She looked so calm...peaceful...happy." He turned around again, his mug refilled, and he said, "She's been through...so much. She needs the rest, ya know? She doesn't usually get much of it."

"And you're out here and not in bed holding that gorgeous creature, why?" she asked him with a slightly playful tone.

He laughed, the first genuine laugh he'd ever offered her, and he said, "Because I'm used to being up early, cooking breakfast for...my kids. Getting them ready for school." He lets his eyes close again. "I miss them. So fucking much."

"You'll get them back," Rollins told him. "No judge in the country would risk pissing you off." She smiled at him, then turned as she heard a door creak open. Her eyes widened slightly and she whipped her head toward Elliot to see his reaction.

His eyes were frozen, wide. His mouth was parted a bit, his jaw slightly slacked, and every muscle in his body tightened except his hands, which failed him as the mug slipped out of them and into the sink. "Morning," he mumbled.

Olivia leaned back against the door frame, her right foot propped behind her, making her knee bend and the red satin robe fall open just a bit at her thighs. "Come back to bed," she said to him, her fingers playing with the tie of the robe.

Not blinking, not even breathing, he moved in silence. He wrapped his arms around her as he ushered her back into the bedroom and kicked the door behind him.

Rollins chuckled. "Hypocrite," she mumbled to herself before dialing Nick Amaro's number and telling him his shift was about to start.

* * *

"That's not fair," Elliot groaned, almost whimpering as Olivia's nails raked down his chest. "Stop. No, don't stop. I mean...shit."

She laughed and worked her hands up under his chest. "Found your weakness, huh?" she teased, leaning down and kissing him as she scratched down his bare skin.

He moaned into her mouth and curled his fingers around her thighs, which were on either side of him as she straddled him on the bed. He smoothed his hands up and down her legs, under her robe, daring to reach higher each time.

She rocked into him, not stopping him but egging him on. She moaned, mumbled something against his lips, and dug her nails in deeper as she felt his fingertips swoop over the flesh of her inner thighs.

He held his breath as he grazed her warm wet slit, grunting and shuddering beneath her as he did it. The knock on the door, then, sounded like cannon fire, breaking up a heated battle that had only just begun. "Shit," he hissed, begrudgingly dropping his hands and giving the door a look that would burn it off its hinges if it could. "What?" he barked.

"It's me," Amaro called through the wood. "You decent?"

"Unfortunately," Elliot gritted, moving to a sitting position on the bed. He turned, holding Olivia around her waist, as Amaro walked into the room.

"Rollins is out," he told them. "Munch and Fin are in a car out front, Devlin and Briscoe are in one out back. It's like fuckin' Fort Knox up in here." He stopped, then, and finally let his eyes land on Olivia. "That's, uh, that's a good color on you."

"He likes red," she said, jutting her head back a bit to acknowledge Elliot. "You find out who..."

"I couldn't tell you, even if I did," Amaro interrupted. "You're not allowed to work this case, and I can't talk about an open investigation with the victims."

Elliot rubbed his eyes. "I still don't understand why you all are even working this," he said. "It's not an SVU..."

"Cragen called in a favor," Amaro said, butting in again. "Tucker agreed. The people best fit to look out for you are your family." He sighed as he saw the fear hidden in both sets of eyes glaring at him. "We got a lead on the bomber, or at least the piss-ant who made them. That's all I can say."

"Just tell me...do I know the guy?" Elliot asked. "Where are my kids? What about Kathy? Is this guy going after..."

"Calm down!" Amaro took a deep breath and moved closer, further into the room, and sat on the far end of the bed. He noticed Olivia's hands gripping Elliot's arms tighter, noticed the way she looked at him with so much worry in her eyes. "Your family is fine," he said, feeling like an intruder now. "Kathy came back down to the station today, said she remembered someone threatening you a few years back. Both of you."

Olivia snorted. "That narrows it down," she said sarcastically. "I could name thirty people who've threatened us for you right now."

"No, this...damn it! Forget it!" Amaro said, standing. "We have a lead, that's all I'm saying. Your kids are fine, Stabler, so is your ex-wife. Your mother's fine, so don't even ask. And Benson your..." he stopped.

Olivia gave him a sad grin. "It's okay," she said. "Everyone you just rattled off there, that's my family," she looked at Elliot. "And as long as you're okay, I'm okay."

Elliot smiled at her, whispered, "I'm fine," and kissed her softly.

"I'm...I'm just gonna...go," Amaro said, backing out of the room awkwardly. "Oh, uh, Cragen sends his love, and paperwork. A lot of it. He wanted me to remind you this isn't a vacation, you're both still on duty."

"Ya know, Amaro," Elliot complained, rolling his eyes, "You really know how to kill a mood."

Olivia laughed as Amaro left, and she turned, pressing her lips to Elliot's again. She cupped his face, something snapped, and she moved into him with more power, more passion.

"Liv," he garbled against the kiss, "Baby, I'm fine." He felt the warm tears roll, dripping onto his fingertips as they caressed her cheeks, and he knew they were tears of relief, and slight fear, the same tears he'd been holding back for days.

Until now.

He cried with her and kissed her, held her close, tight. His hands moved from her face to her hair, his fists balled and tangled in her locks. He felt her kiss reach the bottom of his soul and he couldn't help pushing her down flat. He flattened over her like a warm blanket, still kissing as he sniffled and tried to slow his heartbeat.

She raked her nails up and down his back again, she wound her legs around him, knotting them together. Her feet and toes danced with his, her mouth melded to his, her heart found rhythm with his.

They were lost, oblivious to the front door opening and closing, locking. The clothes peeled away slowly, carefully, the pair in no rush and eager to devour every moment, every detail. The phones, set on silent, buzzed away, forgotten and ignored on the bedside table as fingers toyed with formerly unexplored flesh, as hearts pounded and stopped at once.

"Are you..."

They asked each other, together, so in tune with one another that the same concern hit at the same time. They shared a smile, and another kiss, and he bent his head and bit her neck as he thrust once, hard.

Her mouth fell open, but no sound was made. Her body stretched around him, and her muscles tightened, pulling him deeper into her, seemingly as desperate for him as her heart was. A shaky breath and a soft moan of a nickname she'd given him over a decade ago were all she gave, before lifting her hips a bit, asking him to move.

He kissed the tender mark he'd made on her throat, then peppered her jaw line with pecks until he came home to her lips. He moved, slowly, deeply, forgetting where they were, forgetting why they were there, and unaware they were now alone.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, as entranced as he was, and whispered something against his mouth that made his heart stop altogether.

He peeled back, away from her, and he smiled. It's all he ever wanted to hear.

* * *

"Why aren't they answering?" Munch asked, hitting redial on his phone again.

Fin folded his arms. "Maybe they're asleep," he said. "It's late, and they both been through hell the past couple of days."

"They don't know Amaro left," Munch said. "One of us should go up there."

Fin rolled his eyes. "Shit, man," he said, straightening up in the car's seat. "One, two, three, shoot!"

Munch raised on bespectacled eye. "Two outta three," he said, balling his fist again.

The men shook their hands three times then dropped a sign, Fin groaning when for the second time in a row Munch's rock beat his scissors. "Man, if I go up there and Stabler's in his skivvies, I'm comin' back out here and kickin' your bony ass all the way back downtown."

Munch laughed, but grew serious just as Fin opened the door. "Don't tell them, Fin," he said sternly.

"Yeah," Fin sighed. "The last thing we need is Stabler goin' down for murder." He got out of the car and slammed the door. "They'd never find the body."

Munch yelled out the window as Fin ran across the street. "We have to find him first, ya know!" He shook his head as Fin disappeared into the house, and he looked down at the file in his hand. "The sun will come out," he said to himself. "But not for you, Morrow."

**A/N: See what I did there?**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: In a blink, the Earth moves. In a blink, someone is born, someone dies, someone falls in love, someone breaks a heart, and someone is wishing something would change. Blink again, and it will.**

**DISCLAIMER: Dick Wolf owns SVU and all related characters. TStabler owns the following story.**

"Are you shitting me?" Cragen asked, staring at the file in his hands.

Nick Amaro looked at him with guilt in his eyes. "I thought I knew where Morrow was, so I took the chance. I didn't think anyone would..."

"You are fucking lucky Munch and Fin were outside!" Cragen yelled, cutting him off. "You had a job to do, and you..."

"Hey!" Rollins barked, looking from her captain to her partner. "Nick screwed up, but no one got hurt! The important thing is we have a lead, and we have a witness."

"Kathy is hardly a witness," Cragen said, rolling his eyes. "She has second hand half-truth information from her ex-husband."

Rollins shook her head. "Captain, she swears that this man almost cost Olivia and Elliot their partnership, that psychologist..."

"If I had a dollar for every person, place, or thing that should have split those two up, I would be retired in Boca with a yacht and Christie Brinkley," Cragen muttered, his fingers tightening around the bridge of his nose. "The reasons behind Doctor Benedict's evaluations had nothing to do with...they were because of Stabler's anger issues not...why am I even..." he shook his head and pointed a finger at Amaro, raising his voice again. "You do what you're told to do, and you keep doing it until it's done, got it?"

Amaro nodded, then gave a thankful nod toward Rollins. "Anyway," he said, folding his arms. "We got the drop on Morrow. Morales is tracking his cell, we've got e-mails linking him to the pyro that made the bombs."

Rollins scoffed. "Bastard," she hissed. "Actually believed the orders were for military operatives. Since when does the United States Marine Corps pay for explosives with an Amex?"

"Morrow's cocky," Cragen said, sitting on the edge of his desk. "A cocky, egotistical, misogynist with a hard-on for Benson and a grudge against Stabler." He looked up at Rollins. "We need more than a few e-mails and the hearsay from a bitter ex-wife."

"On it," she said with a curt nod before leaving the office.

"And Rollins?" Cragen said, his lips curling. He watched the blonde turn around. "Don't think you're not still in the doghouse for your own little stunt with Alex during your watch," he told her. "At least you stayed in the house."

Rollins almost blushed. "Won't happen again, Sir," she spat before rushing through the door, eager to find something more to link Morrow to the attempted murder of two people who would be her friends, if she was the type of person that let more than one person ever get too close.

* * *

"Go fish," Elliot droned, reaching for his beer.

Olivia raised an eyebrow and smirked. "You lying sack of shit," she chuckled. "You asked me for one two turns ago!"

Elliot grinned. "Did I?" he questioned playfully. "Well, gee, Liv, I must have misplaced that card. You know the rules. No card, no clothes."

She rolled her eyes. "How many times have you had the card I asked you for?" she asked him, folding her arms. She saw the look in his eyes as his teeth scraped across his bottom lip. "You fucker," she chortled, "You wanna see me naked, El, just ask. You don't have to..."

"Oh, it's not just seeing you naked," he interrupted. "It's watching you _get _naked, slowly, bit by bit. Always good motivation to cheat at a card game."

"You're wastin' your time, Stabler," Fin yelled from the living room. "You know damn well she's wearin' like five shirts. And she took off her shoes and socks one by one, you ain't seein' shit."

Elliot and Olivia laughed. "Well, man, I guarantee she'd be quicker to drop trau if you weren't here."

"If I wasn't here," Fin began, standing and walking into the kitchen toward them, "You might be in deeper shit than bein' caught cheatin' at Go Fish." He squinted and tilted his head. "Who plays strip Go Fish, anyhow?"

"Someone who wants to stay fully clothed," Olivia said, winking.

"How long have you two been so, uh...eager to get naked?" Fin asked, trying to be respectiful as he curiously invaded their privacy.

"Oh, about thirteen years," Elliot said, smirking. "But, um, when the house blew up...it kind of..."

"Oh," Fin interrupted, understanding. "You ever see that movie, Speed, with Sandra Bullock and that dude from The Matrix?" He squinted slightly. "Great line from it, great advice. Relationships based on intense situations never work out."

"I think this one's based on more than just what happened, Fin," Elliot defended, his voice severe, almost threatening.

Olivia waited a moment, and when the silence grew too awkward she cleared her throat. "Anyone else hungry?" she asked, getting out of her seat to get a cup of coffee.

Elliot groaned. "I really can't eat anymore canned soup," he said. "And we can't order anything." He looked at Fin. "You wanna..."

"No," Fin said quickly. "Whatever it is, no." He pulled out his cell phone. "I'll get Munch to run his scrawny ass to Vinny's next door. Extra cheese good for..."

"Guys?" Olivia said, stopping Fin. "I think...we might have a problem." She backed away from the kitchen counter, an empty mug in her hands.

Elliot shot up out of his seat and ran to her, pulling her into his arms and further away from the marble and wood. "What?"

She pointed at the coffee pot, glanced toward him and then looked at Fin. "Camera," she said.

Fin hung up his phone and dialed a different number. "Yo, Morales?" he said when the techie answered. "We got a situation here."

* * *

After a twenty minute wait, spent mostly in tense silence, Rollins showed up with Morales and his equipment. Morales took the top of the coffee pot and did what he could with the small camera he'd found inside.

"It's not a long distance transmitter," Morales said, still picking the bits of metal and plastic apart.

Elliot, still wrapped around Olivia, asked, "So that means he's close, and you can tell us how fucking close he is."

"Maybe," Morales said. "This," he held up a tiny square chip, "Is a wireless data card. It saved everything it recorded. Which means whoever planted this here was planning to come back and get it, and possibly wasn't receiving any live-feed."

Rollins paled. "What do you mean, it saved everything it...oh, my God, do you know how long it's been there? Someone's got me...shit!"

Elliot couldn't help snickering, which earned him an elbow to the ribs courtesy of the woman in his arms. "What," he asked innocently.

Olivia rolled her eyes. "My question," she said, shifting in his grip, "Is how did it get there to begin with. This place was set up by cops, swept for bugs, and the only people who've been in and out are people from the unit."

Elliot's hands slid down, off of Olivia's shoulders, then to her hips, finally dropping to his sides. He turned his head slowly toward Rollins, his eyes narrowing slightly. "What did you say the other day? Someone gave you a box of stuff to bring in for us...the clock in the bedroom was with..."

"Oh, my God," Olivia gasped, turning almost as white as Rollins had moments before.

Rollins folded her arms. "Not so funny now, is it?"

Morales and Fin headed into the bedroom to dismantle the clock, and Elliot took three slow steps toward Rollins. "Who gave you the box?" he asked, sounding threatening to hide his genuine fear.

Rollins closed her eyes. She took a deep breath, and then she said the only name in the world that could make things worse. "Cragen."

**A/N: Hmm...not what you're thinking. And what happens when someone lets it slip who's after Elliot...and why? Next**.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Blink away the tears, blink away the pain. Blink away the dust and dread and blink away the rain. **

**Disclaimer: Characters belong to Dick Wolf. Story is owned by TStabler**

"Why?" Elliot asked, the third time in a row, not satisfied with any answer he'd been given.

Cragen folded his arms and heaved a heavy breath. "I needed to keep an eye on you," he shrugged. "I had a feeling...you know how I get when my gut tells me something."

Elliot's eyes narrowed to slits, and he stood up slowly, like he often did during a difficult interrogation. "Your gut?" he repeated. "And what, exactly, did your gut tell you when you saw Liv naked? When you watched us..."

"I turned it off!" Cragen yelled. "I have a lot more respect for her, and you, than I think you realize! Damn it, Elliot, I wanted to protect you!"

Rollins scoffed. "You didn't trust me and Nick," she spat.

Cragen turned sharply, snapping at her. "Was I right not to?" he bit. "You got lost in our ADA for a few hours and he just got lost! How can I trust you to keep them safe if your minds are somewhere else?"

"My mind was on the case," Nick defended. "I had a lead, I ran with it...maybe I should have gotten Munch or Fin first, but I didn't want to risk losing Morrow, and I knew they were outside any..."

"Losing who?" Elliot fumed, his eyes wide. He whipped back to face his captain again. "Are you fucking...you're saying that the son of a bitch who tried to blow me to bits...who's been watching Liv...it's that fucking sick, sadistic...fuck...Randolph Morrow?"

Olivia went white. She wrapped her arms around herself, shivering slightly. She didn't even blink as Elliot wrapped his arms around her. "Why?" she asked. "And how the hell did he get out?"

"Parole board didn't see a reason to keep him locked up," Fin said, disdain in his words as he stared at Olivia, in Elliot's arms. "He faked his way through treatment and got points for good behavior."

"Yeah," Elliot huffed. "Everyone in prison is already in a cage, there was nothing else he coulda done to 'em." He gritted his teeth, rolled and cracked his neck. "Where is he?"

Munch held up a hand. "We got it, buddy," he said. "Calm down. We're..."

"Where...is...he," Elliot all but demanded. Each word was punctuated by flaring nostrils and flickering eyes.

The room went silent. Olivia watched faces turn, trying to pass the buck off to each other, no one willing to be the one to say. Finally, she looked at Cragen, her brown eyes softening, knowing if she tried to look more afraid, he'd cave. "Cap?"

Cragen opened his mouth, but it was Fin that spoke before the captain could. "Last we knew, he was in Olivia's apartment."

Elliot and Olivia both snapped their heads toward him. "Say again?"

Fin cracked his knuckles. "That's how he watched her, and you, how he knew you were still alive, how he got those pictures." He looked down at the carpet. "He was stayin' across the street for a while, but when we moved you..."

"He was in my...and you're all just standing here doing nothing?" Olivia yelled, not realizing how angry she suddenly was. "Go get him! Why the hell aren't you..."

"We tried, Olivia," Amaro shrugged, interrupting. "He's an elusive one, ya know? We...he has to know...somehow...that we found out where he was. He took off."

Rollins dropped her arms to her sides. "We don't have enough evidence, either. Just a few e-mails that connect him to some guy who makes explosives for government jobs." She ran a hand down her face. "We're working on it, I promise you, we'll find him, but you two have to..."

Before she could finish, a chorus of cell phone ringtones erupted in the living room. Olivia and Elliot watched, slightly irritated, as everyone else answered their phones. "I will never get over how shitty it is to be on the other end of a case," Elliot complained, kissing Olivia's ear as he whispered into it.

She sighed and sunk deeper into his arms. "I will never get over how nothing is shitty when I'm right here, with you, like this."

He smiled, kissed her neck, then her cheek, then her lips. He whispered, "Me either," just before he heard Cragen clear his throat. The pair looked up, not the least embarrassed. "Well?" he asked.

"Olivia," Cragen said, "Hold onto him, keep him calm, distract him, whatever you need to do." He looked at Rollins. "You...stay here...keep the door locked, don't answer it, and for the love of God don't let anyone, not even Alex, into this house."

"Will one of you tell me what the fuck is happening?" Elliot shouted, fear blending with annoyance and anger.

Cragen looked at him. "Morrow's got another slave," he said. He was silent for a moment. "He wants to trade."

Elliot squinted, then he realized. "No fucking way," he said, shaking his head, his hold on Olivia tightening.

Munch stepped forward and said, "We're not going there, relax."

"So what are you gonna do?" Olivia said, pushing herself out of Elliot's arms. "You can't let an innocent girl suffer like that...be tortured, probably killed, because of me, God damn it!"

"We're not," Rollins said. She felt her heart crack at Olivia's strength and devotion to her job, her promise to protect people, even if it meant risking herself. Admiration filled her eyes as she sighed. "We're not, okay?"

"We found someone," Amaro piped in, looking at Elliot. "Someone who's willing to go see the guy, get in, get close, give him the impression that she's gonna help him get Olivia and get rid of you."

"Who would be stupid enough to do that?" Elliot asked, pulling Olivia back to him, not hiding the fact his legs and hers were almost obscenely intertwining as they tried to be each other's rock.

Fin chuckled, taking a bit of pleasure in what he was about to say. "You really wanna know, Stabler?"

"I think Liv deserves to know who's putting herself on the frontline for her," he said through a tight mouth. "Don't you?"

Fin took a breath, took a step toward both of them, and said, very seriously, "Kathy."

**A/N: Next, Kathy meets Morrow, Fin meets a mystery woman, and Olivia and Elliot get very bored...and find something to do.**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Don't blink. Don't speak. Don't move. Just feel. **

**DISCLAIMER: Dick Wolf owns SVU and the characters; TStabler© owns the story you're about to read.**

The room was silent, pitch dark. With the glow from the alarm clock now gone, the only light was a sliver filtering in from the crack of the door, and even that was a heavy amber, not enough to fully fill any space at all.

She felt his fingers grazing hers, his skin mingling with her own as she tried to focus on what she imagined would be the ceiling fan if she could see it. "When do you think they're gonna let us out of here?" she asked, sighing.

"Tomorrow morning," he said, certain. "They're keeping us from stopping Kathy," he spoke, though with gritted teeth, it was hard to understand.

She slid closer to him. "Do you think she's okay?" she whispered into the dark.

"I think she's crazy," he whispered back to her. "But she's fine."

She moved to her left, her hip fitting perfectly in the divot of his body. She turned onto her side, flushing against him. "Are you okay?" she said into his chest.

He linked his fingers with hers tightly, then dropped their joined hands to the bed. "I'm perfect," he told her, kissing her head. He placed soft kisses on her skin as he blindly searched for her lips, and when he found them, he smiled. "Better than perfect."

She moaned when he kissed her again, all thoughts flying from her mind, the only word from her mouth his name. "El," she breathed, her free hand curling into his back.

He returned her groans and soft, quick breaths as he adjusted on the bed. One leg looped over her body, the other worked its way between her thighs, and he moaned louder.

She gasped as she bucked, rocking against his strong limb. She felt him pull her up, onto him, and she chuckled.

Suddenly, being locked in a dark room while three cops stood just beyond the door didn't seem so bad.

* * *

"So you're Stabler's wife," a handsome, well-dressed man said, offering a hand to Kathy.

"I used to be," she said, slipping her hand into his. She sat beside him at the restaurant, narrowed her eyes, and took her hand back. "I hear you've got a bone to pick with him," she said, unzipping her evening bag.

Randolph Morrow smirked. "No, I want him out of the way," he said. "My business is with the woman."

"Olivia," Kathy said, nodding in understanding. "Then it seems we have a lot to offer each other." She leaned closer to him. "You and I obviously want the same thing, but you're going about it all wrong." She shuffled around in her bag as she continued. "You don't need to get rid of Elliot to get to her, I can help you."

Morrow snorted. "Listen, sweetheart, you just go back to your kitchen and let me handle the big boy stuff." He took a sip of his water, a wedge of lemon neatly split over the side of the glass. "Wouldn't want you to break a nail."

"You don't understand," She pulled a folded piece of paper out of her bag and slid it toward him. "Just take me back with you, we can work it out."

Morrow blinked, then looked down at Kathy's fingers tapping over the white paper. He took the note, unfolded it, and the smirk curled up into a full smile. "Right," he said, giving her a nod. He looked around, lifted his left hand into the air, and said, "Check please?"

* * *

"Why here?" the redhead asked, sipping her fruity drink and looking across the table at Fin. "Why now?"

Fin sipped his beer. "Here," he said, "Because it's close to where I need to be in an hour. Now, well, now because I don't know how much time I got left." He took another sip of his beer. "Someone might be out there tryin' to figure out how to blow me up, too."

The woman smiled, running a long finger along the edge of her glass. "I doubt it," she said. She cleared her throat and leaned over. "Just to be clear, this isn't a date."

Fin smirked. "Course not," he shrugged. "If it was a date we'd be in much nicer place, and it wouldn't be this late." He looked down, took a breath, and took her hand. "I just needed to see you. Tell you this, before I lost the nerve, or...ya know."

"You told me Stabler's fine," the woman said, tilting her head.

"He is," Fin said as he shook his head. "But this whole thing...got me thinkin' a lot. You gotta say whatever you need to say to people, because you never know if the last time you see 'em is gonna be...the last time you see 'em."

The redhead gave his hand a squeeze. "So tell me..."

"I got a thing for ya, Novak," he said before she could finish. "I don't care what beef you got with Benson or Stabler, this is about me and you. So what do ya think?"

Casey blinked. She looked up, caught the bartender's eye, and said, "Check, please?"

* * *

"You okay in there?" Amaro's voice called from the other side of the bedroom door.

Elliot curled one hand over Olivia's mouth as he thrust harder into her. "Just fine," he shouted back, grinning.

Olivia rolled her eyes, her fingers digging deeper into Elliot's shoulders. She mumbled something into his palm.

He chuckled as he moved, hitting deep inside of her, and yelled, "Maybe get us some water? With ice."

Amaro shouted an affirmative response, and Elliot slid his hand away from Olivia's mouth, replacing it with his lips. His kiss muffled her moans as his hands, now free, smoothed down her body and gripped her legs. He lifted them, hiking them up onto his hips. He felt her thighs tighten, her ankles hooking behind his back, and he twitched in pleasure as he moved faster.

She gripped him, her nails burrowing into his skin, and her body rose off the bed to meet every one of his eager thrusts. She heard their skin slapping together, felt the slight shove as their pelvises met with each hit, and she bit down on his bottom lip and pulled with a groan.

He grunted, one hand sweeping back up her glistening body to wind and twist in her hair. He growled her named lowly as his teeth sank into the dip of her neck near her collar bone and he slammed hard into her. He counted, five times, and felt her clench and pulse around him. He shut his eyes, suckling on her skin, and then he was gone.

Her back arched, her toes curled, her eyes rolled far back as she came. She held onto him, feeling him thrusting still, riding every wave he brought over her.

He grunted again and gave two more sharp slams, and he stilled. Panting, he lifted his head, leaving the purpling skin of her neck alone. He looked down at her, into her eyes, and he smiled.

She blinked slowly, her eyelids fluttering as she tried to breathe. She looked back up at him, a lazy smile on her lips matching his.

He kissed her again, slowly, calming both of them as his fingers twirled her hair and stroked her skin softly. They had almost forgotten where they were, when a knock on the door brought them back to reality.

She whimpered as he pulled himself away from her, but she grinned slyly as she watched him walk, naked, toward the door. She pursed her lips at him when he pulled on his sweatpants and tugged at the strings as he opened the door.

"Thanks, man," he said to Amaro, taking the two glasses of ice water from him. "You gonna let us know when we can come out and play?"

Amaro scoffed. "You're playing plenty in here," he chortled. Then he grew serious. "Besides, um, we're not exactly sure how safe you are here anymore."

"What are you talking about?" Elliot said, narrowing his eyes.

Amaro cleared his throat. "Just...pack, and...call your kids."

"Call my...what the fuck is going on?" Elliot fumed.

Amaro's eyes twitched. "Your wife got to Morrow," he said.

"Ex-wife," Elliot corrected. "What happened? Where's the girl? Is Kathy okay?"

"He let the girl go, like we thought he would," Amaro said, "But Kathy...she tossed her wire as soon as she could and our guys lost them a few blocks from the meet. We found a note she wrote to him in the trash at the restaurant, and...uh..." he coughed. "We're not exactly sure who's side she's really on."

Elliot shook his head and huffed. "Great," he said, biting his lip. "Fucking terrific." He slammed the door in Amaro's face and dropped back to the bed. He said nothing as he handed Olivia her water. "Don't say it," he said.

"Wasn't planning to," Olivia said, just before taking a nice, cold, drink.

"You're thinking it," he said, raising an eyebrow.

She swallowed and put her glass down on the end table. "I am not," she defended. She reached up and rested her hands on his shoulders. She squeezed, rubbing the tension out of his neck and back.

He turned to look at her over his shoulder and he moaned before questioning her. "Liv?"

She chuckled. "So, yeah, I'm thinking it," she said, working deeper into his muscles.

"Just say it," he sighed, dropping his head and moaning again.

She laughed as she dropped light kisses to his back and neck. She nipped at his earlobe, then whispered, "I told you so."

**A/N: Kathy...good or evil? Find out...next.**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: When things blow up in your face, you have to wonder why you're the flashpoint. **

**DISCLAIMER: Dick Wolf owns SVU and the characters; TStabler© owns the story you're about to read.**

"You really can't tell me where they're moving?" Alex asked, her fingers locked with her girlfriend's, her eyes grey and worried.

Rollins shook her head. "Cragen thought twice about telling me as it is," she sighed. "I blew it, Al. I already had Benson in my way, now I go and fuck up the most important case we..."

"In your way?" Alex questioned. Her head tilted. "What does that mean?"

Scoffing, Rollins rolled her eyes. "You know what it means." She dragged her teeth along her bottom lip. "Being in this unit...it's like being the middle child around here. Always in the shadow of the older, smarter, hotter sister, yet never quite outshining the younger, wittier brothers."

"So...I...I don't follow," Alex shrugged.

"Stabler left, and when I transferred here I knew that meant I had a lot to live up to," Rollins said, her eyes gazing at a spot on the wall. "Big shoes to fill, a lot to prove. Then he comes back out of nowhere, I'm thrown into the ring, and now I've gotta compete with him, which...ya know, it's understandable. I just didn't think I'd have to compete with Benson, too." She shook her head again. "She pushed us all aside to get her partner back, they get all the high-profile cases...I probably sound like I'm whining."

"A little bit," Alex teased, nudging Rollins. "You're not competing with anyone. You guys are a team."

"No," Rollins sighed, "We're not. Cragen looks for any excuse to write me up, Amaro is so eager to please the two of them he practically begs to help them with paperwork, and this...what we did...he hates me for it. To be honest...I...I don't think it would have happened if we weren't watching Benson and Stabler." She looked into Alex's eyes. "I took advantage of the fact it was them, thought it wouldn't be a big deal because I didn't consider them..."

"Victims," Alex finished, blinking.

Rollins nodded and squeezed her hand. "I'm sorry I got you in trouble."

"Don't be," Alex said. "The only thing I'm sorry about is breaking that table," she laughed.

Rollins leaned over and gave her a soft kiss. "You're amazing."

Alex smiled. "I know." She rose from her seat and said, "Call me later." She pointed a finger at Rollins. "When you're off duty."

Rollins chuckled and nodded, then watched Alex walk down the hall. She sighed and checked her watch, wondering what was taking Amaro so long.

* * *

"What did the kids say?" Olivia asked, running her index finger over the rim of her coffee mug.

Elliot turned to look at her, and he lost his thought. Her knees were bent up to her chin, her sweater sleeves dropping low on her shoulders and nearly covering her knuckles. She looked cozy, safe and warm, and absolutely adorable. He smiled and walked toward the couch, then sat beside her. "They said they can't wait for me to get home, they miss me, and they're worried about their mother."

Olivia snuggled closer to him as he wrapped one arm around her, and she dropped her head to his chest. "Are you?"

"Yeah," he admitted. "You know the kind of monster Morrow is, and I have no idea what kind of game Kathy's playing with him. If anything happens to her, I'll never forgive myself."

Olivia nodded, then dropped one of her legs. "Neither will I," she said. "I wouldn't be able to..."

"I know," he said, his hand moving from her shoulder to her neck, squeezing gently. "You saved her life once, baby. You...you saved my son." He pressed his lips to the thin skin behind her ear. "I never thanked you, and I...shit, I don't even know where to start."

"You thanked me," she said, turning to him. "But you didn't have to. She was your wife, that was your child, El. I would do anything for you and your family, you know that I..."

"I love you," he said, interrupting her. He watched it register, watched the light in her eyes brighten, and he smiled. "I love you."

She smiled back at him, but then her grin faded. She turned her head away from him. "They're going after him tonight," she said, pulling away from him and standing.

"Who?" he asked, rising off the couch to follow her.

She held the warm mug in her hands as she walked over to the window, knowing she couldn't open it, but wanting like hell to do it. "Morrow." She took a sip of her coffee, took a deep breath, and sighed. "This could all end tonight."

"Thank God," he wheezed, wrapping his arms around her waist from behind her.

She jerked away again. "You can go back to your life," she said, "Your kids. You won't have to be stuck with me twenty-four hours a..."

"Olivia Benson, that has to be the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard you say," he said, his voice low and serious.

She turned, surprised. "Excuse me?"

"I told you...I didn't kiss you because we almost died," he said, stepping closer to her once more. "I can't wait to be able to take you out, walk through the park, go to a ball game. I want to go back to my life, Liv, but I want to go back with you." He cupped her face. "I want to do it all with you."

Her lip trembled, she sniffled slightly, and the tears filled her eyes. "I'm scared, El," she whispered.

He kissed her gently. "Me, too, baby," he said softly. "But I got you, I'm right here, and I'm not going anywhere."

She swallowed and squeezed her eyes shut as she fell forward into him. Her lips found his and her fingers clutched at his sweatshirt.

He kissed her hard as he moved, pushing her backward toward the couch. He chuckled against her lips when she squealed, falling flat onto the cushions. He covered her body with his, curving to pull at her clothes without breaking their kiss.

It wasn't long before she was scratching at his skin, the need to pull him closer driving her every move, every thought. "El," she moaned, kicking the jeans he'd just pulled down her hips off of her feet.

He growled out a harsh, "Liv," as he attacked her neck and chin with kisses, each press of lip to skin carrying a promise, an oath.

Her fingers gnarled in his hair, she held his head down to her neck as her hips rose to meet his, and the fear faded.

He pulled himself up, but only for a moment, and he panted as he spoke. "I love you," he told her for a third time.

She felt her heart thumping in her chest, she looked into his eyes, and she said the one thing that made sense to her. "I love you, too."

* * *

"Did you hear that?" Randolph Morrow strained to listen, the silence of the hotel room hitting his ears.

"I didn't hear anything," Kathy said, shaking her head. She leaned closer and tried to refocus the conversation. "So, the plan...tonight?"

"As good a night as any," Morrow said, sipping his brandy. "But you need to stay here, sugar. A man's job should be done by a man. You can cook, right? I expect a good dinner when this is over."

Kathy scoffed, but she knew what she had to do. "Pot roast sound good?"

"Don't burn the meat, and I like my carrots soft with a bit of bite in the middle," he told her. "If they're mushy, there will be hell to pay. Understood?"

"Yeah," Kathy told him, trying not to show how annoyed she was at his chauvinism, "Sure."

Morrow downed the last of his brandy, cleared his throat, and straightened his tie. "How do I look?"

"Professional," Kathy spat.

"Good," he said. "Get the rack ready for her, would you? With a little training, she'll be the perfect, obedient woman. She just needs to be taught a few good lessons."

"She's stubborn," Kathy warned, "And remember what I told you about him."

Morrow nodded. "I'll go in through the back," he said. He grabbed a small remote control off of the coffee table. "The explosion outside will distract him, and by the time he turns around to look for her, she'll be gone." He held out the small, black device to Kathy. "Ten minutes."

Kathy nodded, taking the remote from him. "Got it," she said. She bit her lip, looked down at the red button, and just as Morrow turned the doorknob, she pushed the button.

* * *

"What the fuck was that?" Elliot asked, still breathing heavily, still naked. He climbed off of Olivia, off of the couch, and grabbed the throw off of the back of a chair. He wrapped himself up as he ran toward the window.

Olivia pulled on Elliot's sweatshirt as she ran to his side, and they stared at the flaming taxicab. "What the hell was...oh, God, El, look!"

"He was staying across the street?" Elliot asked, squinting. He pointed and his eyes narrowed. "Shit, that's Cragen out there," he said. "Let's go." He dropped the blanket and pulled on his jeans, then tossed Olivia's to hers.

She pulled them on and up and took his hand, then walked with him out the door and into the street.

"Cap!" Elliot yelled, pulling Olivia down the front steps, "What the fuck is going on out here?"

Cragen held up both hands. "We got him. Relax."

"He was staying at the hotel across the street!" Elliot fumed. "How the fuck did he even know..."

"I told him," Kathy said, walking out of the hotel with Fin.

Elliot's eyes narrowed. "Who told you?"

Kathy looked at Cragen.

Cragen sighed. "I did," he said. "I knew Morrow would think she was wired or something, so we thought it would be better to have her convince him she was on his side." He jutted a thumb toward Kathy. "Morales rigged her necklace."

Fin smiled. "She'd make a pretty good cop," he joked, getting into a waiting squad car.

Morrow, in cuffs, snarled at her. "So, the whole time, you were...oh, you bitch," he hissed.

Amaro yanked on the cuffs. "Watch the language," he spat. He shoved Morrow into the squad car, slammed the door, and tapped the hood, then stepped back as he watched it drive away.

Olivia looked at Kathy, bit her lip, and said, "You didn't have to do this."

"I was just returning the favor," she said. "Besides, I didn't do it just to save you." She looked at Elliot and gave him a soft smile. "You're welcome." She stepped over to a dark blue sedan, opened the passenger side door, and said, "I guess we're even, now, Olivia."

"Guess so," Olivia shrugged, waving to the blonde. She leaned into Elliot. "We are reading her statement in the morning, right?"

"Hell, yes," he replied, kissing her forehead. He turned to Cragen. "So what happened in there?"

Cragen dropped his arms to his sides. "Morrow was gonna blow up the cab to get your attention away from Olivia, making it easier for him to get her away from you. He wanted to...uh...train her."

Elliot scoffed. "Yeah, over my dead body," he said.

"Kathy hit the button too soon, creating enough of a distraction for our guys to get into the room and get him," Cragen finished. "She never betrayed you. Either of you."

Elliot pulled Olivia closer to him. "At least not tonight," he said, bitterness lacing his words. "Can we go home now?"

"Uh, El?" Olivia laughed. "Neither of us really have a home to go to," she reminded him. "My apartment's still an active crime scene and your house is..."

"Gone," he laughed. "Yeah. So we'll stay in a hotel, or the cribs," He took a breath and without even looking over his shoulder, he knew who was standing there. "What do you want, Tucker?"

Ed Tucker flicked a cigarette and blew a puff of smoke into the night air. "You two. My office," he said. "Now."

**A/N: Just when we thought it was over...**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: How quickly life changes when you're not even looking... **

**DISCLAIMER: Dick Wolf owns SVU and the characters; TStabler© owns the story you're about to read.**

"I'm going to assume," Tucker said, eyeing Olivia and Elliot in the chairs in front of his desk, "That this was simply because you needed each other, you almost died, it was an intense experience..."

"No," Elliot said, interrupting.

Tucker narrowed his eyes. "No," he said, folding his hands, "Just like that."

"Just like that," Elliot told him, tilting his head. "Now, is there another reason you called us in here? Or can we attempt to go back to living a normal life now?"

Tucker rubbed his forehead. "You always manage to push my buttons, Stabler," he gritted.

"You always manage to be an ass," Elliot retorted. Then he sighed. "Seriously, Ed, come on. Can we please just..."

"I need statements," Tucker cut in. "From both of you. And yes, I need them now, because your paid leave starts tomorrow, you have a session with Huang that..."

Olivia spoke up, annoyed. "Oh, no fucking way," she shook her head adamantly.

Tucker eyed her with a mix of concern and contempt. "It's mandatory if you want to be cleared for active duty. What happened to the two of you..."

"I've been blown up before!" she shouted. "Hi, remember, Merrit Rook?"

"You were just...that was different, you...you...were almost killed, Benson!" Tucker yelled. "The man you love was almost blown to bits right in front of you! This is completely..."

"Man she loves, huh?" Elliot said with a smirk. He leaned forward and rested his hands on Tucker's desk. "You're worried about her?"

Tucker bit his lip and mumbled something.

"What was that?" Olivia asked, squinting.

"Both of you," Tucker gritted. "You piss me off, my life would be easier if I didn't have to clean up after you every fucking day of my life, but I don't want you..." he shook his head. "It's one session with Huang, and three days off. Policy. Nothing he asks will be personal, it will only be relevant to this, Olivia. I promise."

Olivia sighed. "There's no way around this?"

Tucker shook his head, then watched them get up out of their seats. "One more thing," he continued.

They both looked at him, tired and pale.

"This," he wagged a finger between them, "Whatever it is, whenever it ends, it stops on company time. The city isn't paying you to play wag and tag, and if you can't work together when it's over...then you won't. Do I make myself clear?"

Olivia nodded glumly as she walked out of the office, but Elliot stayed behind. He crossed his arms and shook his head, confused and agitated. "What makes you so sure this is gonna end?"

Tucker folded his arms. "I know you, Stabler," he said. "And I know her."

"What the hell does that even..."

"It means," Tucker broke in, "That you're a recently divorced father of five in no real shape to jump into a new long-term relationship, and Benson is a firecracker who runs from any kind of commitment as fast as she can." He ran a hand down his face. "On top of that...you're the only person in each other's life with the power to truly destroy the other...if something happened, neither one of you would take it well, and I don't want to witness that kind of fallout."

Elliot bit his lip. "You're right," he said. "Which is why this is so easy." He narrowed his eyes. "You've got nothing to worry about." He turned on his heels and left, heading out into the hallway to meet Olivia, and head to the only place they really felt safe.

Tucker watched him go, shaking his head, hoping it wasn't just the stubbornness talking.

* * *

"These beds are so fucking lumpy," Elliot complained, rolling over for the seventh time. One arm was draped around Olivia, on leg curled between hers. He spent a few moments just breathing her in, remembering what it felt like to relax, to be safe.

Her voice cut through the silence, a harsh whisper as she rolled further into him. "What are we gonna do?"

"About what, baby?" he asked, kissing her forehead.

She nuzzled him a bit, then said, "Us. This." She kissed her way across his neck, dipping to his chest every so often. "The kids...they don't know about us...and if you get custody of them, you can't all just stay in a..."

"Back up," he said, looking down at her with serious eyes. "Aren't you forgetting someone?"

Her face went white. "I just assumed that when this was all over we'd..." she shook her head. "Never mind, I know it was silly to even..."

He silenced her with a kiss. The laugh that reverberated in his throat vibrated against her lips. "Baby," he said, pulling away from her, "I can't just go back to living without you. Waking up with you, going to bed with you, that's...that's my life now. I just...I was trying to think of a way to ask you that didn't sound pretentious or obnoxious."

She chuckled and worked her body deeper into his. "I didn't even think you had to ask," she whispered, then kissed him softly.

He moaned, wrapping her up tight and deepening the kiss. When he pulled back, he brushed her hair back, and he said, "And the kids know. They're...they're really not surprised."

She looked up at him, confused, and her mouth fell open to speak, but the door creaked open and the light from the squad room hit their faces, making them squint.

"Sorry," Rollins said. "Can I...can I come in?"

"It's the fucking bunkroom," Elliot hissed. "We're not that..."

"El," Olivia warned, raising an eyebrow.

Elliot smirked for a moment. "Well, we're smart enough to know when people are still here." He sat up a bit, keeping her in his arms, taking her with him. "What do you want?"

Rollins sat on the edge of the bed across from them. "I just...I wanted to apologize. This is really..." she cleared her throat. "What happened with Alex, I..."

"Hey," Elliot stopped her. "That's one memory I'd rather not relive, okay? It's fine. I...understand why it happened, I just..." he raised and lowered his brows. "You think you know a person."

Rollins laughed, then said, "I should have been more focused on you, and I got the two of you into more trouble, you had to move houses because of me, and I made things more..."

"Did Alex put you up to this?" Olivia asked. "You're not gonna be charged with obstruction or tampering or..."

"You're her best friend, Olivia," Rollins interrupted, a sincerity in her voice that was shocking. "I can't have anything between us, not if I want to stay in her life." She chuckled bitterly. "God, that night...the way she was driving to the scene, the way she cried, it's like she..." her eyes dropped. "Anyway, I just don't need us at each other's throats, or ignoring each other." She looked at Elliot. "You either."

"We're cool as long as you stay close to your girlfriend and away from mine," he joked. He looked at her a bit more warmly. "You're a good cop, Rollins. You made one mistake, because you knew we could handle our own shit. It's okay."

Rollins smiled at him. "I thought you hated me," she said with a breath.

Olivia laughed. "Oh, that's just his bubbly personality," she teased, scraping her nails down his chest. "The only person I think he's ever been genuinely nice to instantly was..."

"You," he said, kissing her nose.

Rollins smiled again at the couple, then rose. "When you're up for it, there's some people downstairs who I think really want to see you."

Elliot gave her a look, but Olivia had a feeling she knew who was waiting. "Come on, El," she said. "I think they really want to see you."

Elliot grumbled as he got out of the bed, but once he opened the door and looked down the stairs, his face lit up. He ran like the wind, down the flight of steps and into the middle of the room, and he swooped all five of his children into his arms. "Oh, my God," he sniffled. "I missed you guys, so much."

"We missed you, too, Daddy," Lizzie said, squeezing her father tight.

Olivia, watching with tears in her eyes, slowly made her way down the steps. She gave a small wave when Elliot's oldest son caught her eyes, and then her eyes widened.

"Liv," Dickie yelled, running to her.

The other kids followed, wrapping her in a hug that was almost as tight as the one they'd shared with their father. Her shocked eyes met Elliot's, the stunned expression on her face paling in comparison to the pure joy on his. She saw the tears drip slowly down his cheek and she squeezed the kids harder.

Elliot sniffled again as he walked over to them, making himself the outer circle of the group hug, and he kissed each child on the head before planting his lips on Olivia's.

Cragen sniffed, trying to hide the emotion, and he clapped his hands together. "Well, yeah," he said. "We're all really glad the two of you are all right."

Elliot laughed, the tight embrace loosening and disbursing. "How did you guys get here?"

Maureen waved her car keys. "I took the van," she said. "As soon as Miss Novak called and said..."

"Speakin' of Novak," Fin said, looking around the room. "Anyone seen her tonight?"

"She's probably dealing with Morrow's arraignment," Amaro said. "Cabot can't work the case."

Cragen sighed, looked at Elliot and Olivia, then at the kids. "You, uh, you're all more than welcome to stay in the house. You need to be alone with your family right now."

Olivia blinked. "Yeah, uh, you guys are gonna love the place." She turned to Elliot. "Call me when you..."

He kissed her, stopping her words. "You heard the man, Liv," he chuckled. "We have to go be with our family." He winked at her then led his kids out of the unit, chattering and laughing as they walked.

Olivia was frozen for a moment. She knew her life had changed on that stoop, but she never expected this.

**A/N: Final chapter? Next.**


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